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AMG Transport Dynamics Warthog
The Warthog was a force application vehicle in service since 2319 with the , and from 2402 with the . As of 2554, two models of Warthog were in service with the UNSC: the 2502 M12 Warthog Mk.2 "100th-Anniversary Special" and its 2554 successor, the M12B Mk.3 Warthog. 2502 model inline-4 |weapons=Varied |armor=Ballistic polycarbonate, titanium, carbon nanotube |crew=1 driver, 1 passenger, (usually) 1 gunner |era=Insurrection, Human-Covenant war, postwar conflict |affiliation=UNSC }} By 2502, the Warthog Mk.1 had been in service with the UNSCDF for 100 years and with the CNM for even longer. AMG Transport Dynamics were going to celebrate 100 years of their vehicle's service with the UNSC (who were buying three out of every four Warthogs their factories produced) with a special-edition model, until their executives realized that such a vehicle would be altogether useless in military service. They then decided that for its (technically-not) 100th birthday, the Warthog should be given a full redesign so that it would be more capable on the modern battlefield. The first Mk.2 Warthog rolled off AMG Transport Dynamics' main factory in New Mombassa 100 years to the second after production of the first Mk.1 destined for UNSC service was completed (and was subsequently rolled right into the company museum). Powertrain Engine The Mk.2 Warthog was the first vehicle to use AMG Transport Dynamics' H12044 engine, which was designed specifically for it. This 12.0L inline four-cylinder engine was intended to be used as a generator rather than provide direct motive power, and as a result it had a cylinder diameter of 117mm and a stroke length of 278mm, resulting in oversized connecting rods some UNSC servicemen referred to as "ridiculously disproportionate." This, however, enabled engineers to fit a much larger flywheel, to which they directly attached a large gear that had the same rotation speed as the engine. This was then meshed to a much smaller gear on the Warthog's generator shaft, which spun the generator 100 times more quickly than the engine speed and was the source of the Mk.2 Warthog's characteristic engine whine. Fuel Delivery The Warthog, like most other UNSC land vehicles, was powered by an internal-combustion engine using hydrogen as its fuel. The hydrogen is extracted from water using the Warthog's onboard , which electrolyzed water from the Warthog's onboard 40-liter tank (located between the driver and passenger in what appeared to be a transmission tunnel) into its hydrogen and oxygen components. The hydrogen was directed into the vehicle's engine as needed; the oxygen was stored in a high-pressure tank to be used in environments with little ambient oxygen (which was constantly being measured by O2 sensors located in the vehicle's nose) or vented into the atmosphere if the tank was at full capacity. Suspension As the Mk.2 Warthog's engine was designed as a generator and was never intended to directly power the wheels, the designers could develop a highly specialized suspension for it. They created a revolutionary swing-arm suspension design in which the body was held off the ground by "arms" that were attached to the body with motorized hinges (reinforced with hydraulic shock absorbers for traversing rough terrain) that had wheels on the other end. During normal operations, the hinges would use a relatively small amount of energy to keep the Warthog level and would move to compensate for terrain imperfections it would "see" with an array of radar-based nose-mounted sensors. If it detected an imperfection which it could not compensate for, it would divert some water from its tank into the shock absorbers for the wheel(s) that would be impacted by this imperfection to brace them, cut power to their corresponding hinges, and use the force of the impact to depressurize the shock absorbers while simultaneously accepting a small electric charge from the movement of the motor. Once the obstacle was cleared it would resume normal operation. Drivetrain The Mk.2 Warthog powered its wheels using four electric motors, one mounted in each wheel. This gave it an "individual-wheel drive" system that was similar to all-wheel drive in conventional vehicles, but with a far greater range of torque management provided by non-mechanically-linked electric motors. As the Warthog's onboard batteries were only capable of powering the vehicle's auxiliary functions (like the lights and the dashboard), the Warthog needed to constantly run its engine in order to generate enough power for the motors to operate. Under acceleration and while travelling at speed, the engine had to speed up in turn to keep up with the power demands of the four motors. This led to complaints of excessive noise from some operators. The Warthog also had four-wheel steering for greater maneuverability. There was a function installed that could disable the steering of the rear wheels; however, most drivers left the rear steering enabled as there were very few circumstances in which disabling the rear-wheel steering would provide an advantage. Brakes The Mk.2 Warthog stopped using a combination of regenerative braking from the electric motors and friction-based brakes. Because similar systems in other vehicles were said to be unnatural-feeling and "spongy," AMG opted for a system that used regenerative braking for all but the most dire of braking emergencies and created a special kind of meshing drum brake that locked immediately upon activating. These locking brakes were only activated during normal use by applying full emergency pressure and automatically activated when the vehicle was unoccupied. If the driver were to exit the vehicle at speed (for whatever reason) or was thrown out of it at speed, these locking brakes would bring the Warthog to a sudden, immediate stop. Service Upon its introduction into frontline service, the Mk.2 Warthog was universally praised for its improvements over its Mk.1 ancestor. Notable among these new improvements was an ignition system integrated into their operators' neural interlaces, so that the vehicle would automatically start if a UNSC serviceman climbed into the drivers' seat (civilian models were equipped with a key), and electromagnetic seats that would hold servicemen in place by their armor and restrain them in case of an accident. This feature would later be overhauled with the introduction of , as its energy shields would amplify the seats' magnetic effect. Spartans could leave the seat despite this; however, the futile electromagnetic resistance the seat would enact on the armor would damage the seat beyond repair. 2554 model V6 |weapons=Varied |armor=Ballistic polycarbonate, titanium, carbon nanotube |crew=1 driver, 1 passenger, (usually) 1 gunner |era=Postwar conflict |affiliation=UNSC }} By early 2552, there seemed to be no hope left for humanity against the Covenant onslaught. In an attempt to at least buy humanity some time, AMG Transport Dynamics decided that, within the year, they would have a new Warthog designed, tested, and built to be cheaper and simpler to produce than the old model so that it could be produced in larger numbers more quickly. Although they kept right on schedule, the fall of Reach in late August and the Covenant invasion of Earth in late October-early November meant that the new Warthog was not finished in time to see combat in the Human-Covenant War. However, as the company almost bankrupted itself rushing it through production (figuring a balanced budget wouldn't matter if the human race were doomed anyway) they decided to release the Mk.3 Warthog on schedule in December 2552. Upon release it was criticized almost universally for not being finished more quickly. Powertrain Engine Unlike the Mk.2, the Mk.3 Warthog had an engine designed to directly power its wheels, partially because the neodymium magnets for the Mk.2's generator were getting continuously more expensive after the mining planet from which AMG Transport Dynamics had sourced most of its neodymium was glassed in the Human-Covenant War. In another attempt to save costs, the new H12064 engine used the same 117mm-diameter cylinders as its H12044 predecessor; however, the stroke length was shortened to 186 mm (from 278 mm) to produce a more compact engine (and to use less metal in the connecting rods). This engine delivered more power than its predecessor, at the expense of having lower torque. Not having a generator also meant the Warthog lost its characteristic whirring whine; the H12064 is instead said to produce an "unpleasant, whirring, almost rattling snarl" at speed; many users wondered at first whether the new engine was malfunctioning. Fuel Delivery The Mk.2 Warthog was universally hailed for the ease with which it could be supplied and its ability to preserve the lives of its operators in what could be considered an ablative manner: as it stored its hydrogen fuel as water; the operators onboard could, in times of great peril, use its onboard water tank (provided it had been filled with clean, fresh water) as a source of drinking water, and could refill their breathing canisters from its oxygen tank if necessary. This is because of its , which enabled it to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen. In the interest of reducing production costs, AMG Transport Dynamics removed the Graf/Hauptman Solar/Saline Actuator from the new Warthog, meaning it would have to transport its hydrogen as a pure element. Engineers devised a storage tank for the Mk.3 Warthog capable of storing highly pressurized hydrogen in liquid form. To refuel this tank, auxiliary tanks were designed that could accept pressurized hydrogen from a storage structure (intended to be located at an operating center in friendly territory) and then refuel the main tank after being sealed to the Warthog via specialized "docking ports." These tanks were designed to resemble the once-ubiquitous "jerrycan" and were painted bright red to alert operators of their potential hazard. The Mk.3 Warthog was designed to carry four of these tanks mounted on the far back of the vehicle. Unlike the Mk.2 Warthog, which could extract hydrogen from most forms of liquid water, the Mk.3 Warthog's reliance on pure hydrogen effectively tied it to a base of operations and somewhat limited its effectiveness as a scout vehicle, to the annoyance of many operators. Suspension In the interest of reducing production costs, and because the Mk.2 Warthog's swing-arm suspension would not be functionally possible in a vehicle that relied upon its engine to directly power its wheels, the Mk.3 Warthog's designers instead opted for a simpler swing-axle design. In the eyes of the designers, this design would enable the Mk.3 Warthog to use its new engine and drivetrain without sacrificing any of the Mk.2's off-road ability; however, the new suspension could not deflect quite as much as the old one and, as it used stiff coil springs rather than motorized arms to cushion impacts, did not have a smooth ride either. What it did have was lift-throttle oversteer caused by natural weight transfer during deceleration and cornering pushing the Warthog towards its outside front tire and causing the rear tires to lighten and slide. This weight transfer is present in all vehicles, but the large suspension travel afforded by a swing-axle suspension amplifies the effect. The Mk.2 Warthog, despite being capable of much greater suspension travel, did not have these handling issues as the suspension's electric motors were more than capable of managing the vehicle's body roll. Drivetrain Like the Mk.2 Warthog before it, the Mk.3 Warthog directed power to all four of its wheels. However, because the Mk.3 Warthog's engine directly powered its wheels through tractive effort (unlike the Mk.2, whose engine powered the wheels indirectly through a generator), its designers created an all-wheel drive system for it that used a manually locking differential to divide power to the front and rear axles as needed during normal operations; this differential could be locked by the driver when needed to provide traction in difficult off-road environments. Designing an engine to power the wheels also forced AMG Transport Dynamics to develop a three-speed automated manual transmission, enabling the engine to stay in its efficient "power band" more easily. This also gave the Mk.3 Warthog better acceleration than its predecessor. Brakes The Mk.3 Warthog's brakes were considered to be its best (some say only) strength. Unlike the meshing cog design used in the Mk.2 Warthog that was designed to only be either fully inactive or fully locked, the Mk.3 Warthog had carbon-ceramic disk brakes that were capable of stopping it in much shorter distances when the brakes were fully applied. The Mk.3 Warthog's brake pedal was also said to be smoother than that of its predecessor's as well. Service Unlike the Mk.2 Warthog's immediate, full integration into the UNSCDF, the Mk.3 was integrated into service more slowly. This was due to lower production numbers as AMG Transport Dynamics only had factories on Earth following the Human-Covenant War and the overall negative reaction UNSC forces had to it. Most units used both vehicles simultaneously, using the Mk.2s as long-range scouts and the Mk.3s for close patrol missions, to give one example. As of 2557, the only units to exclusively use Mk.3 Warthogs were those stationed aboard the UNSC Infinity; by comparison, Mk.1 Warthogs were scarce in the UNSCDF four years after the Mk.2's introduction. Category:UNSC Vehicles